Post Truth, Post Brexit, Post Rationality

Post Truth, Post Brexit, Post Rationality

Philip Hammond is having a gloomy day. For the past month he's hardly been out of his office. He's been pacing up and down pulling his own hair out as well as that of his advisers.

Fixing Brexit Britain is one of the most difficult tasks in modern global politics (alongside reuniting America). So he's right to be worried.

Many other senior Conservative MP's have told him to cheer up and have attacked him for his "relentless negativity".

This is the main issue in modern politics currently. Hammond is, astonishingly, honestly telling members of the public of the issues surrounding leaving the EU. He spoke alarmingly of the "eye-wateringly large debt" and claims that "inflation is back".

Just because it's hard to hear doesn't mean we can ignore it.

Leaving the EU isn't like going through a break-up. You can't just block out what you don't want to hear and distract yourself.

This is post-truth politics.

Politicians want to hold on to power. That's not new. They're renowned for over-stretching the truth. Not new. They are now getting away with lying. New.

People are angry and upset with governments all over the world. They have been told for years that life is improving but have yet to witness it themselves.

Therefore people don't want to hear from experts. They don't care about the facts. They are fed up with practicality and they want to be inspired. This is why lying doesn't matter anymore. Trump's victory in the US shows this. The American people voted for an idea. They didn't vote for a serious economic and foreign policy. They voted for someone who will put on a show.

Liberal politics and liberal media is practical but it is bland. It is pragmatic and forward thinking, but it does not engage the average person unless something exciting happens.

But politics is no TV show. Yes, it is gripping and it is exciting but it shouldn't be treated like Big Brother or the X Factor.

It seems the government is taking a Jeremy Clarkson-style foreign and economic policy... after all he did recently say that looking good is more important than looking where you're going.

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